Intensive Pronouns for Kids: Myself, Herself and Themselves (Grade 6 and 7 English)

Hi, I'm Luna from DoodleBeez. Today we are looking at pronouns that end in self or selves, like myself and themselves. When they add emphasis, we call them intensive pronouns.

There are eight of these pronouns. Myself, yourself, himself, herself and itself are singular. Ourselves, yourselves and themselves are plural. Notice that hisself and theirselves are not standard words.

An intensive pronoun emphasizes the noun or pronoun right before it. The mayor herself opened the park. It stresses that the mayor, and nobody else, did it.

Here is the test. Remove the intensive pronoun. The mayor opened the park. The sentence still makes sense. So herself was only adding emphasis. That makes it intensive.

Compare a reflexive pronoun. Sam hurt himself. If we remove himself, we get Sam hurt. That is incomplete. A reflexive pronoun is needed because the action goes back to the subject.

Avoid using these pronouns in place of I or me. Do not say, Jo and myself went home. Say, Jo and I went home. Use a self pronoun only for emphasis or reflection.

Now it's your turn. Is the pronoun intensive or reflexive? We built the treehouse ourselves. Pause and try. It is intensive. We built the treehouse still makes sense, so ourselves adds emphasis.

Great job! Remember, intensive pronouns end in self or selves and add emphasis. If you can remove the pronoun, it is intensive. Practice intensive pronouns in the English Lab at doodlebeez.com. See you next time!